It is known to provide a powered sliding door system for a vehicle such as an automotive vehicle to allow an occupant to enter and exit an occupant compartment through a door opening in a vehicle body of the automotive vehicle. The powered sliding door system typically includes a door extending longitudinally and mounted on tracks for sliding movement to open and close the door opening. The powered sliding door system includes a cable attached to the door and routed through the vehicle body via pulleys so that pulling a first end of the cable opens the door and pulling a second end of the cable closes the door. The powered sliding door system also includes an actuator assembly having first and second reels about which the ends of the cable are wrapped. The actuator assembly includes a motor that drives in one direction, rotating the first reel to open the door, and is reversible to rotate in an opposite direction, rotating the second reel to close the door.
The actuator assembly is typically mounted in a rear compartment of the vehicle body, which varies in depth, width and height. The actuator assembly has a motor mounted on the side that used a clutch and two relatively big gears to provide speed reduction to the actuator assembly. Further, the transmission assembly must provide ease of sliding door movement in both a power and manual mode of operation.
Although the above powered sliding door system has worked well, it is desirable to provide a universal transmission assembly for both right-hand and left-hand sliding doors of the automotive vehicle. It is also desirable to provide multiple stages for speed reduction of the actuator assembly. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide a transmission assembly for a sliding power door system for an automotive vehicle.